Gratitude – Thanksgiving 2020
I think we can all agree that since March 2020 this year has not been the best. Okay, it’s been awful, and that’s putting it mildly. It started out with a bang and full of hopes and goals, and then the bottom fell out with the coronavirus – COVID19. I’m not so sure that anyone thought this was going to be as devastating as it has been, or the number of people that have died around the world because of it. COVID19 became a pandemic quickly with no way to avoid it. As of this writing there is no active vaccine; in other words, you can’t just run out and be vaccinated against it as you can the ‘flu’. Vaccines are being worked on with three being very promising, but we won’t see them until next year, and between now and then hundreds of thousands more will have succumbed to it. Wearing a mask is about the only defense we have against this coronavirus, but so many people refuse to wear one for whatever reason. Despite this ravage, we have, or should I say I have a great deal to be thankful for.
Although I live alone here in Dallas, and my family is in Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, I am so very grateful for them. My older sister, that I have only seen once in the last 25 years, and whom doesn’t talk with me now [for whatever reason]…I love her very much and miss her terribly. She has taught me a lot over the years, and we have shared a lot; our combined genealogy research found many ancestors and solved several unknowns; thanks to the internet we were able to share many places that we knew we’d never be able to go; and we shared photos that we had taken. We laughed, and cried, and commiserated with each other. I’m very grateful she’s my sister.
My three nieces, Carolyn, Wren, and Lindsay, their husbands and children, all very much a part of my life, although they, too, live far apart from me.
My friends, many of whom I consider family, not only those I have known face-to-face, but those virtual friends from around the globe. Each make a part of who I am, whom I have become, and all are important in my life.
I am grateful for all of the doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and medical technicians that have helped “fix” my body and keep me going, and those that have helped me transition to the man I have always believed myself to be.
I am also grateful for those in veterinary medicine that over the years have taken great care of my dogs; they have done so with caring and compassion.
I am grateful for those people that deliver our goods across the nation; the long haul drivers, the pilots of the skies, the train conductors, and those that deliver the mail across the country and to our mailboxes; and to those river pilots and captains of the seas that bring goods to us from overseas. Without them, our commerce would collapse and we would have none of the conveniences we enjoy today.
I am grateful for those that deliver our energy resources across the country and to those that work in the oil fields and ocean oil rigs risking their lives to bring this resource to us.
I am very grateful to a woman that over the years has not only saved my life on several occasions, but also has taught me a lot about caring, compassion, acceptance and love. Her job has definitely not been an easy one with me [at times], but she has hung in there at the worst of times and during the best of times. Without her the last 10 years I’m not sure where I would be, or if I would be at all.
I am grateful for having a roof over my head. It’s not a palace, but it is warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and is filled with love. And I have enough to eat and enough food for my dog. I have not wanted.
There is far more that I am grateful for, but I would end up writing a chapter for a book that few would want to read. And, while I believe in God, and consider myself a Christian, I am very grateful for all that God has given me and the blessings I enjoy.
I look around and see that I am rich beyond belief.
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends, even if virtually. Blessings to you all!
Jason
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